There is a thread running around for “Yellow Day” pictures. Here is mine …

I’ve been told that in the broadcast media, there are contract clauses that stipulate what ads can run side by side. For instance, if you are Honda, you probably don’t want the TV network running a Toyota Prius ad right next to your Civic Hybrid spot.

I’m guessing the same rules do not apply to web advertising. I don’t think it was coincidence that sitting right next to the article about IBM/Lotus Sametime telephony integration was a video ad spot for Microsoft VoIP. Something tells me the marketing guys are both sides will get an earful – The blue team may want to call in sick while the red team is probably getting high-fives.

I wrote about using Lotus Notes “basic” as a way to conserve resources when you are not taking advantage of the extra features the Eclipse framework (aka Lotus Expeditor) provides. Well, I recently needed to switch over the full Notes “standard”. I got a shock when I lost my nice, tuned, custom frameset (seen here on the left). I was told “you can’t get framesets from Notes ’standard’ mail.”. Well, like Carl wrote, “I’ve often been told Notes can’t do X or can’t do Y, but typically it can if you think a little differently“. So, I set about to get my highly efficient and productive frameset back into Notes “standard”.

Steps:

1. File -> Applications -> New Composite Application …
2. give it a name – remember path; you’ll need that info later
3. Actions -> Edit Application
4. Tools -> Component Palette -> Open
5. Tools -> Component Palette -> Add Components -> NSF Component
6. give it a name
7. optionally give it a description
8. click “Browse” for the “Notes URL”
9. Select “frameset” from the dropdown for “Kind of object” (alternately, you can select any other NSF object that would would use when opening our mail file)
10. The “User’s mail file” should already be selected for the “Application”
11. Select your frameset from the dropdown list.
12. Click “OK” to finish selecting the NSF object
13. Click “OK” to finish creating the NSF component.
14. Now drag the newly created NSF Component to the empty application area. It should display your frameset (or any other object you defined for the NSF object).
15. File -> Finished Editing
16. Click “Yes” to save your work.
17. Open Domino Designer
18. Open your mail file
19. Expand “Composite Applications” then expand “Applications”
20. Click the “Import XML” button
21. Browse to the directory path from step #2
22. Change the “file types” to “All files”.
23. Locate the file with the name from step #2 (will have a “.ca” extension)
24. Click “OK” to import it – make a note of the name, you will need this later
25. Exit Domino Designer
26. Locate your mail file database “chicklet” on the Notes workspace
27. Right-click on your mail file database -> Application -> Properties
28. Switch to the tab for “When opened in the Notes client”
29. Select “Launch as Composite Application”
30. Select the name from the “import” step #24
31. Close the properties dialog box.

Now, when you open your mail file in Notes “standard” you will get the same display as with Notes “basic”.

I’ve become one of those recent “converts” – not to one of the coveted MacBooks but to using Linux on my personal and work laptops. I will admit, the Mac is better for a couple of reasons which mostly boil down to “its easer to develop to a small set of variables than to a large set”. What this means is that Mac OS-X has a very controlled set of hardware to run on and the software has very few permutations. Imagine how complex it would be for the new iChat to work across 3 different CPU vendors, 5 flavors of each; a dozen or more video cards; ditto for network cards; ditto for sound cards – you get the picture.

I am quite amazed at how quickly the Linux community takes the best of Mac OS-X and implements it for multiple flavors of the operating system and does its best to tackle the 25,920 possible combinations (12 x 12 x 12 x 5 x 3) <grin>.

They may not get it right the first time and in some cases they may never get it right (but that is usually because the target audience is so small). But the infinite monkeys theory is alive in well in the world of open source and these moneys are smart !

The Mac OS-X showed the world the convenience and fun of the “dock” and 3-D desktops, and “cover flow” and “fan out” and “time machine”. the Linux community was quick to create Avant-Window-Manager, compiz-fusion, and TimeVault.

I still fight with my Linux machines nearly every day – I still can’t get my Thinkpad to suspend and the Blackberry tether over USB as a modem – even with hours and hours of reading and experimenting. I trust they will work one day. Still, I like my Linux laptop. Which what I’ve learned, I am sure I could recreate my new work environments on Windows by why bother – pretty soon, I will have found solutions for my regular necessities (like a decent replacement for “MS Project”). I don’t miss the other office suite programs. My person mail is handled nicely by Thunderbird – especially since Google added IMAP for Gmail – and for work, I can live with the misbehaving nature of Lotus Notes 8 on Linux – it is their first release so they deserve some slack.

I still keep my “Linux lists” such as “things you can’t do on Linux”, “things only a Linux god can do”, “things that should be easy but are not”, … you get the idea.

Linux takes a line from Mary_Schmich’s column published in the Chicago Tribune – “Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements” – in other words, enjoy the results of your tweaking, our python scripts, your bash, your numerous cuts-n-pastes from blogs and forums. Backup your system often. Revert when you’ve made a mess. Assemble the good parts and “show them your Linux” !

The company I work for is HUGE and has more business segments than I will ever know. Being a company this big means there is, more often than not, has its fare share of of bureaucracy and red tape. Sometimes the easiest things in life become major accomplishments. So, I figured I was in for a headache trying to use Ubuntu – especially when the official company Linux distribution is Redhat.

So it was a big (and welcome) surprise to find not one but two groups within the company putting together distributions of the IBM desktop products for Ubuntu. One version has everything an IBMer needs and loads it is a single easy (walk away till it’s done) package. The other let’s you pick and choose – Lotus Notes 8, Sametime 7.5.1, the Lotus Mobile Connect client, Tivoli Storage Manager, and a whole lot more. There’s even a cool corporate theme. (Typically, I’m not one to use a branded theme but for all the work these groups have done, I’ll give it a try and give them some well deserved credit.)

I know what I’ll be doing one evening this weekend !